After a long wait, I finally purchased my first fat tail on Monday (5 days ago). I've always wanted one, but never have seen them around at the usual pet stores (and haven't seen much at shows around here either). So when we walked into a Petco during their $1/gallon sale and saw a nice striped fat tail, my wife and I just had to get him. He's a striped normal and currently weighs 33g. But I digress.
I'm keeping him currently in a 20Gal-long with a mix of 90% cocofiber / 10% sphagnum moss, about 1.5"-2" deep. I have an UTH on the hot side, with a layer of rock tiles below the substrate to prevent him from burrowing and laying directly over the UTH. He's got a cool hide (~75 degrees) and a warm hide over the UTH. I'm misting nightly.
Anyway, the top layer of the substrate reaches a temperature of around 89-90 degrees. This seems like it would be fine, as from what I've read they should have warm temps of around 90-92. However, since fat tails like to burrow, the temps where he sits are warmer than this. The mid layer of the substrate seems to be reaching a temp of around 97 degrees, varying a degree on either side of that from time to time.
Is this too hot? It seems hot to me but perhaps he is enjoying it because he always crawls over there? What matters more, top layer temps or mid layer of the substrate? If this is too hot I may have to pick up a thermostat.
I'm keeping him currently in a 20Gal-long with a mix of 90% cocofiber / 10% sphagnum moss, about 1.5"-2" deep. I have an UTH on the hot side, with a layer of rock tiles below the substrate to prevent him from burrowing and laying directly over the UTH. He's got a cool hide (~75 degrees) and a warm hide over the UTH. I'm misting nightly.
Anyway, the top layer of the substrate reaches a temperature of around 89-90 degrees. This seems like it would be fine, as from what I've read they should have warm temps of around 90-92. However, since fat tails like to burrow, the temps where he sits are warmer than this. The mid layer of the substrate seems to be reaching a temp of around 97 degrees, varying a degree on either side of that from time to time.
Is this too hot? It seems hot to me but perhaps he is enjoying it because he always crawls over there? What matters more, top layer temps or mid layer of the substrate? If this is too hot I may have to pick up a thermostat.
